Evolution of local ag-land

[olroy2044]

Remember this photo of the Huey dusting the almond orchard near my house?





As soon as the crop was harvested, the orchard was cut down


The ground went through a lot of preparation and was replanted.


Across the street, another orchard was replaced by a new crop of young trees.


While it was rather sad to see the majestic old trees turned into firewood, I was relieved that the land remained agricultural, rather than developed into industrial areas. Roy

[pompiere]

The key words are probably "majestic old trees". Most trees have a finite lifespan, so in an orchard, the farmer is keenly aware of when the production slows down. Then it becomes a business decision to replant or switch to a more profitable crop. When an orchard is in business for many years, they are constantly planting new trees on a rotating basis.

We should applaud the crop duster for keeping a 40 year old aircraft out of the scrapyard. In a way, he's like one of us, except that I'd bet that he doesn't have 50 old helicopters stashed in his barn.

[Deleted]

I spent quite a few hours in a National Guard Huey H Model, flying around the state of Idaho (I wasn't driving). One thing I can tell you is that it gets REALLY quiet in a Huey when the engine quits when you are several thousand feet above the ground.

Wayne

[photax]

I like your american shortcuts: What is an ag-land ? Agricultural ? How old is a "majestic old tree ? I have no idea, there are no almond trees in Central Europe. How long would it take to turn picture 5 in picture 2 ?

MIK

[Deleted]

Ag-land is agricultural. Particularly in the American West a "magestic old tree" in an orchard could be anywhere from 100 to 25 years old. "Old" isn't like European "Old." One hundred fifty years ago the hill where our house stands was covered with sage brush and probably a lookout for Indians watching wagon trains pass on the Oregon Trail. There wasn't any real agriculture here until about 1900.

[olroy2044]

The key words are probably "majestic old trees".

Ron, you are absolutely correct. These orchards were approximately 70-75 years old. they were still quite productive, but had become susceptible to storm damage and disease. The orchards suffered significant wind damage this past fall.

We should applaud the crop duster for keeping a 40 year old aircraft out of the scrapyard. In a way, he's like one of us, except that I'd bet that he doesn't have 50 old helicopters stashed in his barn.

Fortunately, the operator has several of the old choppers, because the one in the photo was destroyed in a landing accident about 30 days after the picture was taken. I think this photo is the last one taken of the chopper in flight. The pilot was only slightly injured and was flying again soon afterward.

Mik, I apologize for inflicting American slang on you. I'm sure that Peter W cringes at our "Americanisms" also. ;D Wayne is correct. "Ag-land" is short for agricultural land.

It took about 5 months to remove the trees and prepare the soil for the new planting. The seedlings in #5 will take about 8-10 years to be come productive. I don't know what has been planted in the other field, as the new plants are only about 2 inches tall, and there is a deep ravine and creek between the field and me.

Thanks to all of you for your interest. Roy

[mickeyobe]

It is good to see agricultural land being preserved and renewed instead of being converted to condominiums.
The owners deserve a great deal of credit.

I have a mini orchard of sorts in my backyard, two apple trees, two cherry trees and a crab apple tree. All of them are almost 40 years old. They were supposed to be miniature trees but nobody told them that.

The picture, taken 2 weeks ago is of one of the cherry trees. It had 3 trunks each about 35 feet high. One trunk came down in a recent wind storm. The other 2 will have to be felled as they are badly decayed.

Unfortunately there is no room for a condominium in my yard.



Mickey

[PeterW]

Roy,

I'm sure that Peter W cringes at our "Americanisms" also. Wayne is correct. "Ag-land" is short for agricultural land.

I'm beyond cringing now, Ron. I've got (gotten? ) used to them with all the American programmes shown on commercial TV, but I still wince a bit about "different than".

I don't think ag-land is particularly an Americanism. It's been in use in the UK for years. If you go back about 100 years you find census entries under "occupation" were often given as ag-lab, short for agricultural labourer.

Many so-called Americanisms are older forms of UK English grammar, like gotten (I got ... I have gotten, though we both still use I forgot ... I have forgotten).

The same with many spellings - the band that goes round a wheel was always spelt "tire" until early 19th century classics-steeped academics changed it to "tyre".

BTW, I was taught that splelt is correct UK English, as are spoilt and spilt. I believe Americans prefer spelled, spoilled and spilled. Spilled is a funny one. If you over-fill a glass the liquid is spilled over the edge. Having spilled it becomes spilt.

I'm not sure about the spelling of color and honor. You may have to blame Mr. Webster for those. I've read that his object was to make spelling more phonetic for immigrants to the US, but I'm not convinced it made things any easier. Immigrants to the UK seem to cope OK with our spellings.

PeterW

[Deleted]

One English phrase that has really caught on with the American news media is "Gone Missing." Twenty years ago they would report that "A local man has been reported missing" or "A local man is missing." Now the local man is "gone missing." or "went missing." This brings to my mind a a scene with a man getting ready to leave for work and telling his wife, "Don't wait up dear. I may decide to go missing after work."

Another word that I don't think is necessarily English but I absolutely detest is "problematic." People no longer have a problem. What they are doing is problematic. Can you envision the crew of Apollo 13 radioing "Houston, our flight is problematic," rather than "Houston, we have a problem." When I was a managing editor I once told a new reporter if he used "problematic" in a story again he would spend the rest of his career at that newspaper writing obituaries. That solved the problem.

[photax]

Sometimes I am wondering about your short cuts. I can easily identify BTW, pls and for instance WTF ( Roy`s Sofa-picture ), but there are some left, unfortunately I do not remember them. I am also not sure if color or colour is the right spelling ( I use both, depending on how I am feeling ). I was told that “color” is used in the US and “colour” is used in the UK. There are many of so called “anglicism” used in the German language today, even in the state television. My dad who did not learn English at school, is always upset while hearing words like “event”, “award”, “flatrate”, or “summit” at the TV-news. But language is always in motion, if it is not, it is dead like the latin-language. More and more English words will make it into the German vocabulary, because the children today are using the internet, I-pod, game consoles and so on ( aso. ? ). On the other side, old German words, out of use are dying out. I must confess, I understand BBC-English better than the CNN-English and I am happy that my English written sentences make reasonably sense .

Mickey, a nice garden ( I wish I have one )…

MIK

[mickeyobe]

MIK,

Don't worry to much about English English Or American English.
We Canadians have the worst of both worlds.
When I went to school we were taught English English but since then, particularly with the advent of television and computers, we are constantly bombarded with American English in both spelling and usage.
What does one do?
I try to use English English because I am a stubborn old SOB and rather fond of tradition.
Our print media used to adhere religiously to English English but have strayed from that path and one may see both usages in the same story these days.
The two languages do not greatly differ from each other (Please note PeterW ) so I can usually make sense of those strange dialects and usages from the other side of the 49th parallel.

MIK, you are welcome to come and dig in my garden whenever you wish. It faces west and right now is 33℃ in the shade and 36.5℃ in the sun. I could fry eggs on my barbecue's lid without lighting it.

Mickey

[Randy]

We are Brothers only separated by water.

[photax]

Mickey, I wish i am there. Weather here is lousy: 18 degrees C , often 8° in the mornig ( my heating installation broke down two weeks ago ) and raining since weeks. Two days ago a Tornado hit a area just a mile away. Fortunately it was a small one ( disrooted some trees and damaged some houses ), but the first ever recorded here. Eastern Europe has serious problems with windstorms and floods. I dont know if there is a correlation with the Iceland Volcano...

MIK

[SidW]

Does anyone remember theexact wording of what Churchill is supposed to have said, something like "two nations divided by a common language"

[Deleted]

Churchill gets credit but I think I read somewhere that someone else actually said it first. But I could be wrong.

Wayne